Integrity

In order to get Finnish citizenship, you must meet the integrity requirement.

Integrity means that you have not committed any punishable act and that no restraining order has been issued against you. However, offences for which you have been punished by petty fines do not prevent you from becoming a Finnish citizen.

Offences and restraining orders are not absolute obstacles to becoming a Finnish citizen. However, there must be well-founded reasons before we will make an exception to the integrity requirement. We will for example consider:

the time that has passed since you committed the offence(s)

the severity of the punishment

the nature of the act(s)

whether you have repeated the offence(s)

Waiting period

If you have been guilty of a punishable offence, you may have to wait for a certain period of time before you can get citizenship. In such a case, we will make a negative decision on your application and impose a waiting period on you. During the waiting period, you will not be granted Finnish citizenship unless there is a well-founded reason.

The length of the waiting period depends on the following factors:

the time that has passed since you committed the offence(s)

the nature of the act(s)

the severity of the punishment

Any exceptions to the length of the waiting period are considered individually for each case. If you wish to apply for Finnish citizenship during or after the waiting period, you must submit a new application.

You may also receive a negative decision not get a waiting period. This may happen if your offences have been very serious and we find it impossible to grant you citizenship until further notice. This depends on:

the time that has passed since you committed the offence(s)

the nature of the act(s)

the severity of the punishment

the number of punishments

If you wish to reapply for Finnish citizenship, you must submit a new application. We will make a decision on your application based on your situation at that time.